Shelving systems have been used for decades to organize shelves and the presentation of products on shelves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,516,122 issued to Hughes on Jul. 25, 1950, U.S. Pat. No. 2,688,409 issued to Echlin on Sep. 7, 1954, U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,139 issued to Dunham on Apr. 28, 1959, U.S. Pat. No. 3,285,429 issued to Propst on Nov. 15, 1966, U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,746 issued to McCabe on Sep. 5, 1967, U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,876 issued to Elkins on Dec. 25, 1973, U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,021 issued to Heinrich on Feb. 25, 1975, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,276 issued to Garabedian on Oct. 7, 1986 all disclose shelving systems that use dividers that are laterally moveable about front and/or rear rails associated with the shelves to neatly present items on the shelves in an organized manner and in such a way as to maximize the use of available shelving space.
In addition to the problems of neatly displaying items on shelving and organizing items in a way to maximize the use of available shelving space, retailers were also faced with the problem of keeping product at the front of shelves to maintain neat appearance, give off the impression of a well-stocked store and to ensure older product is sold before newer product. Many gravity feed systems were devised to solve this problem, such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,551 issued to Just on Nov. 6, 1956. Additional push and/or pull systems were then devised to accommodate shelving systems or product where gravity feed systems were not an option or at least did not work as well as desired. U.S. Pat. No. 3,008,583 issued to Lindell on Nov. 14, 1961, U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,295 issued to Chesley on Dec. 15, 1964, Japanese Patent No. JPS56-33414 issued Nov. 27, 1979 and Japanese Patent No. JPS63-61007 issued Dec. 8, 1984 disclose examples of such systems which automatically advance stored product toward the front of the shelving unit as items are removed from the shelf. These automatic advancement merchandisers are typically referred to as “front-facing”, “auto-facing” or “self-facing” merchandisers and are desired because they greatly reduce the amount of time retailers or suppliers to retailers have to spend straightening or organizing their shelves to achieve the objectives discussed above (e.g., neatly presenting product in an organized manner, maximizing use of available shelving space, keeping product at the front of shelves to give the impression of a well-stocked store, to ensure older product is sold before newer product, etc.).
One problem associated with such front-facing merchandisers, however, is that they require advance knowledge of the product size before positioning the system on a shelf in order to maximize the use of available shelving space or the retailer has to be willing to give-up some shelf space by using a merchandiser that is not sized for the specific product or good being displayed. For example, in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, many of the products displayed via such merchandising systems were cigarette boxes and cartons of cigarette boxes which did not all come in the same size or shape. Thus, if a generic merchandiser was used that would fit all products, there would certainly be wasted space due to some packages being smaller than others. In order to solve this problem, systems were devised that would accommodate for products of varying size, and allow the merchandiser or merchandising system to be adjusted to varying product sizes so as to accommodate product of different size and shape and maximize the available shelving space (also known as maximizing “pack-out” or “packout”). U.S. Pat. No. 3,308,961 issued to Chesley on Mar. 14, 1967, Swiss Patent No. CH412251 issued to Gemperle/ETH Zurich on Apr. 1, 1968 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,452,899 issued to Libberton on Jul. 1, 1969 all disclose merchandisers that adjust to fit the specific size of the product being displayed and, thereby allowing retailers to maximize use of available shelving space or pack-out.
Over the years, a variety of different front-facing merchandisers that account for product size have been provided. Some comprise self-contained systems that simply rest on top of shelving like U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,741 issued to Jackle on Mar. 15, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,192 issued to Lauterbach on May 5, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,801 issued to Markson on Oct. 7, 1997 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JPH11-155701 published to Kawajun on Jun. 15, 1999. Other front-facing merchandisers utilize the front and/or rear rail systems discussed above such as British Patent No. GB2027339 issued to Corjon on Feb. 20, 1980, French Published Patent Application No. FR2667229 published to Corjon on Apr. 3, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,802 issued to Pappagallo on Feb. 21, 1995, International Patent Application No. WO95/13003 published to PPE Ltd. on May 18, 1995, European Patent Application Publication No. EP0956794 published to HMG Worldwide on Nov. 17, 1999, Japanese Published Patent Application No. JPH11-342054 published to Kawajun on Dec. 14, 1999, Japanese Published Patent Application No. JPH11-346879 published to Kawajun on Dec. 21, 1999, Japanese Published Patent Application No. JP2000-004996 published to Kawajun on Jan. 11, 2000. Many of the latter references further improve the merchandisers by reducing the number of merchandiser components and making more of the system parts out of plastic, such as by integrating the pusher track and divider and making the combined divider and track structure, the corresponding pushers, and front and rear rails out of plastic. These merchandisers not only allow for quick and easy adjustment to the specific size of the product being displayed in order to maximize usage of available shelving space, but also allow for easy adjustment to accommodate changes in displayed product size, the addition of new product and/or the reorganization of a shelf or product category on the shelf (typically referred to as “cut-ins” and “resets”) without requiring removal of product inventory.
In addition, several systems have been designed with features to improve the performance of such front-facing merchandisers. For example, systems have been designed with pusher locks for locking the pusher in a rear stocking or re-stocking position such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,295 issued to Chesley on Dec. 15, 1964, U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,741 issued to Jackle on Mar. 15, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,564 issued to Spamer on Jun. 3, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,801 issued to Markson on Oct. 7, 1997 and British Patent GB2392667 issued to Gamble on Mar. 10, 2004. In some systems, pushers have been designed with dampers to slow the progression of the pusher as product is removed from the merchandiser so that the pusher does not exert too much force against the displayed product (which could damage the product and/or force it out of the merchandiser unintentionally). Such systems are disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application No. JPH06-38735 published to Sunco Spring on May 24, 1994 and British Published Patent Application No. GB2392667 published to Gamble on Mar. 10, 2004. Other improvements include systems having pushers that can be adjusted in width (e.g., such as by having pivoting members to widen the reach of a pusher) or adjusted in height (e.g., such as by attaching a pusher attachment that extends the upper bounds of the pusher). Such systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,802 issued to Pappagallo on Feb. 21, 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,564 issued to Spamer on Jun. 3, 1997, Japanese Published Patent Application No. JPH11-342054 published to Kawajun on Dec. 14, 1999 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,317 issued to Merl on Nov. 7, 2000. Some systems also provide for adjusting the height of the system to accommodate taller types of product or stacked product such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,869 issued to Hawkinson on Feb. 20, 1990 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,598,754 issued to Weller on Jul. 29, 2003.
Even with all of these improvements, there are still other areas in which merchandisers can be improved, such as by further reducing the number of merchandiser components and further simplifying and/or perfecting the operation of the merchandiser including some of the very areas of operation discussed above. Accordingly, it has been determined that a need exists for an improved front-facing merchandiser and components for same which overcome the aforementioned limitations and which further provide capabilities, features and functions not available in current merchandisers and for improved methods relating to same.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.